Dead wort?

[T-Pee]

7# boiled and strained cracked corn, 14# white sugar, cooled to 70 degrees with water for 9 gallons total. Added 21 grams (3 pkgs) Red Star Active Yeast. No action.
Proofed another packet after warming wort to 75 degrees and dumped that in. Nothing. Waited for five days. Nothing. Finally dumped the batch to try again.

Where'd I go wrong?

[Prairiepiss]

Temps are a little low. And no need to boil the corn for a sugarhead.

Find the UJSSM recipe in the tried and true recipe section. And use it.

[T-Pee]

How warm should be the wort be when adding the yeast?

I'm used to boiling grain when making beer. Is boiling the corn a bad thing?

[Prairiepiss]

When making a sugarhead yes. Because all you are doing is releasing starches. That you are not converting to sugars. This starches can later lead to foaming and puking in the still. If you were mashing with malted grains or enzymes. That would be a different story completely.

Using bakers yeast. I rehydrated in 110f water. Allow it to cool to my pitching temps. Which is between 80 f and 90f. Depending on ambient temps. If its hot out I pitch at 80f if its cold closer to 90f. That way I won't get temp runaway when its hot. And the temps will hold higher in the cold. I allow the yeast and wort to get within 5 degf or so before pitching.

Again find the UJSSM recipe. And use it.

[jarheadshiner]

How warm should be the wort be when adding the yeast?

I'm used to boiling grain when making beer. Is boiling the corn a bad thing?

I usually pitch my yeast at 90f or thereabouts. The boiling of the corn is not necessarily a "bad" just unnecessary. Unless you are adding something to convert the starches to sugar it really serves no purpose.

Posting same time as PP

[T-Pee]

Higher temps. Interesting. I've always had the 70-80 degree window hammered into my head lest the higher temps kill the yeast. Then again, I was using liquid yeasts when brewing beer, Different?

[Prairiepiss]

Every yeast is different. They all have an optimum temp they like to work at.

Bakers yeast like it around 80f. And start showing signs of going dormant at 75f. And almost stop at 70f.

DADY dry active distiller yeast. Likes it above 80f they use to say 80f now they claim 85f. And it will do the same as above going dormant.

EC-1118 likes it cooler 70f to 75f is good. And works lower. It doesn't show as much activity as other yeasts do. So sometimes people get cornfused and think it has stalled. When its just working slow. It will also work higher.

Those are the ones I use and know. All others should be researched. And kept in their optimum working temps.

[T-Pee]

Welp. That pretty much gets me back on track!

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm familiar with the UJSSM recipe and will go that direction.

[T-Pee]

Jeez. From one extreme to the other.

Made up a nice double batch of UJSSM, cooled it to 95F, pitched 21 grams of Red Star Dry Active at the same temp and dumped the whole thing into the fermenter (a 10 gallon Igloo water cooler with an airlock). 24 hours later, I could use this as a science fair project with the foam blowing up through the airlock like a freakin' volcano. Admittedly, I filled the fermenter a bit full trying to get the temp down with cold water but on the other hand I'm tickled that I'm seeing this kind of action going after my last try. I might get some off-flavors (maybe?) with the temps a bit high and the wash working so hard but this is what the (damned) learning curve is about.

I've read the parent site (http://homedistiller.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) through a couple of times now and continue to peruse the rest of the forum using the search function as terms pop into my head. Great resource and it would behoove other novis to do the same. Not only will you have your questions without asking them, you'll find all kinds of cool stuff and ideas in the process!

Oh. Home (beer) brewers? Set aside what you KNOW about fermenting, take a few steps back and relearn fermenting for distilling. You'll be glad you did.

tp

[Prairiepiss]

The reason it may have foamed up on you like that. Is the cooler for a fermenter. The yeasties will produce some heat themselves. So the cooler will hold that heat in. It mite have gotten on the high side. The yeasties tend to work harder at higher temps. Can be a good thing or could be a bad thing?

That's one of the reasons I don't like using coolers for fermenting. On a uninsulated fermenter I can add or take off insulation. To regulations the temps. Not to mention. A lot easier to heat from the outside. With no insulation blocking it.

[T-Pee]

Noted. On the other hand I also noticed that in a 68 degree room over a 24 hour period, the temp in the fermenter stayed perfectly constant which tells me that on the next run I can simply ensure that the wort is at a lower temperature to start with and it should stay there without external regulation. Cause/effect.

tp

[S-Cackalacky]

Congratulations on the success with your ferment and doing the reading. If you haven't already done so, you might want to read the "New Distiller's reading Lounge" and "The Rules We Live By". Those and the "Parent Site" are considered required reading for new members. They'll help you to get a good grasp of the fundamentals. As you have already found out, the "Tried and True" recipe section is also a valuable resource. It's a good resource to draw from until you're ready to experiment on your own.

Good luck to you and stay safe.

S-C

[Prairiepiss]

Noted. On the other hand I also noticed that in a 68 degree room over a 24 hour period, the temp in the fermenter stayed perfectly constant which tells me that on the next run I can simply ensure that the wort is at a lower temperature to start with and it should stay there without external regulation. Cause/effect.

tp

Yep

[T-Pee]

Congratulations on the success with your ferment and doing the reading.

Thanks!! Funny how one follows the other, eh?

If you haven't already done so, you might want to read the "New Distiller's reading Lounge" and "The Rules We Live By". Those and the "Parent Site" are considered required reading for new members. They'll help you to get a good grasp of the fundamentals.

Those two forums and the Parent Site are part of my regular "reading rotation". I refer to them in some way every day. I also enjoy going through "Tried 'n' True". Lotsa good stuff there.

tp